


our little secret

by lickmyaesthetic



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Mush, Kissing, Mutual Pining, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23776003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lickmyaesthetic/pseuds/lickmyaesthetic
Summary: And for a brief moment, JJ allows himself to believe that he sees her eyes flicker downward to his lips and that she leans forward slightly just a bit almost as if she was contemplating if she should kiss him or not.--or a fic that explores the relationship between jj and kie who have been secretly dating.
Relationships: JJ/Kiara (Outer Banks), Kiara/JJ (Outer Banks)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 389





	1. Chapter 1

She sighs softly into his mouth, her nimble fingers mussle through his disheveled coiffs, scraping against his scalp as she pulls him closer. He’s sprawled out halfway on top of her, one hand caresses along the flatness of her abdomen, causing the purple snug fitted tank top that she was currently wearing to rise up while his other hand splayed on top of her bed, steadying himself in place careful not to crush her with the full excess of his body weight.

Kiara slots her insistent mouth over his, ravishing in the taste of his pliant lips as they moved in feverish tandem along hers. She nips on his bottom lip, teasingly sucking on the plush skin of it. She smirks against his mouth when he makes a low, throaty noise. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you over all of that moaning.” She teases, pulling her wanton mouth away from his momentarily to look at him. 

His lips were a cherry red color and completely kiss-swollen from their ravenous makeout session that they’d been going at since he stealithy snuck into her window after her dad left to go tend to the restaurant. His hair was tousled from where her hands were roughly pulling at the loose strands. His clothes (lack thereof) were askew, the tank top that he wore was somewhere forgotten on the carpet of her bedroom floor. 

He looks so needy and debaunched. His eyes were half-lidded and his breathing was hitched. She’d never seen him like this before and it made her smirk in amusement knowing that she was the reason for it. 

“I said–” JJ clears his throat when he hears how scratchy his voice is. “That you’re tryin’ to kill me.” He says, glancing down at her as she smiled innocently up at him, wrapping her arms around his heightened neck. 

“And what would give you that idea?” She whispers, twirling her fingers through the curly loose pieces of hairs that were on the nape of his neck, teasing him like always. 

They began secretly sneaking around with each other for about a month now. It all started one night after a party; they were all drinking booze, smoking whatever they could get their hands on while having a good time; everyone except for JJ. He arrived at the party late that night, his mood was solemn as he informed Kiara that he and his dad had gotten into a heated argument prior to his arrival. 

He appeared very upset (more so than usual) so Kiara asked if he wanted to go somewhere quiet where they could talk. JJ was apprehensive at first, he wasn’t one to open up about his feelings and didn’t like to discuss his home problems. But eventually he relented in agreement and quietly followed behind Kie as she lead them towards the dock. 

They perched at the edge with their feets dangling into the murky lake water. JJ’s angular cheeks were hollowed into a slight pucker as he smoked a cigarette, the thin stick dangled between the apex of his moist lips while Kiara sat there quietly. She patiently waited for him to speak first. He didn’t so she offered to begin the conversation. 

“What happened?” She asked, although she could see fingerprints bruises around his wrist from where she guesses his father grabbed him at. 

JJ shrugged a shoulder, blowing the stale cigarette smoke into the air as he averted his gaze downward onto the lake water. “The usual; he got drunk, called me a worthless piece of shit, punched me around a few times, chugged down a few more beers, talked about how I ruined his life then passed out.” He explained somberly, his jaw clenches at the recent memory. 

Kiara feels her heart achingly shatter. “Oh, JJ.” She murmurs, placing a hand over his as she turned slightly so that they were now facing each other. She hates that he has to constantly endure the irate wrath of his father’s abusive behavior. “You’re not worthless, you know that. Right?” 

She asks him and he only scoffs wryly as he shook his head in retort. “He says it to me so much that I’m actually starting to believe it.” JJ adduced bitterly, taking another long puff from the cigarette. 

He bites numbly on his bottom lip and swiftly wipes his eyes when a few tears inadvertently began to spill from his eyes. He curses lowly under his breath, “Fuck. I hate that I always let that asshole get to me like this. I know I shouldn’t listen to what he says ’cause he’s drunk half of the time when he says it but the shit still hurts, you know?” He chastised as he continued to wipe his moistened face with the back of his hands. 

And Kiara does know that the JJ that everyone sees on the outside; the bad boy, the one who’s always partying and getting into trouble, was only the façade that he placated as a way to escape from his reality. He uses that to hide from the pain that his father causes every time he screams or punches him. He’s the JJ that everyone wants to see so he doesn’t have to be the JJ that he resents; the sad, broken boy. 

Ever since she met him, she’s always felt this unexplainable sense of wanting to protect him. Maybe she saw right through the bad boy facade, maybe she knew that his acting out was actually a cry for help that he was too afraid to admit of needing. 

She desperately wanted to take all that pain away from him. Because he didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve to be treated so cruel by someone who was supposed to love him. 

Reaching down, Kiara intertwines her pristine fingers within his slightly calloused ones. The sudden intimacy surprises JJ, causing his eyes to widen as he looks up at her. She stared intently back into his azure colored eyes. “You’ve got the biggest heart of anyone else that I know. You’re not worthless, JJ you’re enough. _More_ than enough. And if your dad can’t see that then that’s his problem because you are the best person that I know.” Kiara expresses truthfully, her declaration leaves JJ speechless. 

His heart sombered at her kind sentiments. He has never had anyone say anything about him like that before and look like they actually meant it. He’s never had anyone give him a semblance of hope that he was good enough. 

It meant more to him hearing it from Kiara, because he’s always thought so highly of her. Out of everyone in the group, she’s the one that’s always in tact and has always spoke the truth, much to everyone’s avail. So when he hears her say that, he knows that she’s being truthful with her words and that she isn’t just saying it in the heat of the moment to make him feel better. 

And suddenly he feels his heart thrashing against his chest and his palms grow sodden with sweat. Because she’s looking at him in a way that she’s never looked at him before and it makes him nervous, which has never happened before because he usually didn’t get nervous around girls. 

But with Kei, it’s different. It’s always different. A good different that terrifies him because the way he felt — _feels_ about her is something so strong that he doesn’t even know what to do. 

And for a brief moment, JJ allows himself to believe that he sees her eyes flicker downward to his lips and that she leans forward slightly just a bit almost as if she was contemplating if she should kiss him or not. 

But he quickly dismisses those thoughts because he knows Kie doesn’t feel that way about him. They were only friends, she rejected his advances anytime he flirted with her. Besides, he knew that she would never break the covenant of the forbidden rule of Pogues macking on other Pogues.

Which was why he never told her about his crush. His friendship with Kie was worth way more to him and he didn’t want to risk jeopardizing that because of his feelings. 

So, instead JJ nods his head and thanks her for talking with him. He doesn’t miss the way her smile slightly falters and how her eyebrows crease in confusion. He ignores it and cleared his throat as he rose to his feet. “We should, uh, get back to the party.” He suggested, in which she nodded her head in agreement. 

They didn’t talk about that unspoken moment with each other on the dock that night for a few weeks. JJ had been purposefully avoiding her, too afraid that his emotions would get the better of him. But it was hard because she was his friend and he missed talking her. He tried so hard to stop the feelings he had for Kie but it seemed like they only intensified and that moment at the dock left him confused. 

Did she want to kiss him? It certainly looked like it but—no. They were friends. She didn’t like him in that way. She was just trying to console him nothing more nothing less. 

The whole ignoring Kie thing didn’t bode over well for her. One day, she’d gotten exasperated with his avoiding her so she cornered him in John B’s house one afternoon while he was on the couch sleeping. She roused him with a hard pinch on his arm. 

He woke instantly, wincing out in pain as he sat up on the couch. “Ouch!” He cries, rubbing at the maimed spot. “Why did you pinch me?” 

Kiara rolled her eyes in annoyance as she steadied her hands on her hips and tilted her head at him, her eyes narrowed accusingly. “Because, asshole you’ve been ignoring me for two weeks now! What’s up with that?”

JJ sighed softly as he sat up fully on the couch. He ran a hand through his hair while he carefully contemplated his next words. “I haven’t been ignoring you. I’ve just been figuring some stuff out.” He says, the excuse is pathetic and Kiara knows it too because she rolls her eyes again and scoffs. 

“Oh yeah? Figuring what out exactly?” She challenged, raising a brow. 

JJ shrugs, as his gaze averted downward while he fiddled with his fingers. “Personal stuff.” He mutters and Kie scoffs abhorrently at his pathetic excuse, growing agitated by his lack of caring for her feelings. 

She shakes her head and points an accusatory finger at him, scolding. “You’re full of shit, you know that? You can’t just ignore me for no reason and expect me to be okay with it. We’re supposed to be friends, JJ. Pogues don’t keep secrets from each other, remember? So whatever’s going on with you tell me the truth right now.” 

He wishes it was that simple, that he could express how he felt about her without the fear of possibly ruining their friendship if her feelings weren’t reciprocated. He’d already broken the sacred rule and caught feelings for Kie. Feelings that were growing more and more strong as each day passed. 

Feelings that were so strong that he didn’t know what to do with them and it terrified JJ, because no one else made him feel this way, so nervous and giddy with excitement every time she entered a room, or jealousy when he’d catch some guy’s eyes lingering on her a little too long, or made him feel flustered whenever she would smile at him.

He was confused, scared and possibly in lo–“ _Ouch_!” He exclaims again, rubbing at the sore spot on his arm that she pinched between her fingers yet again to grasp his attention. “Stop pinching me!” 

“No. Not until you tell me what the hell’s going on with you.”

JJ purses his lips before sighing deeply. “You don’t get it, Kie” He begins, wearily dropping his face into the palms of his hands. “There’s a reason why I can’t tell you what’s going on. I want to but—all of it’s just too confusing and complicated and I don’t want to make shit weird between us.” 

“Too complicated for who? You? No. Friends tell, JJ. So either speak up right now or I’m gonna kick your ass.” She sternly adduced and JJ’s known her long enough to know that she wasn’t bluffing on that threat. 

“Kie–” JJ objects, exasperatedly shaking his head, but she’s hasty in interrupting him mid-sentence. 

“So I guess our rules mean nothing to you then? We’re supposed to be friends, JJ best friends and you just decided to randomly ignore me for a reason that you can’t tell me and I’m just supposed to be okay with that?” 

“Our rules is exactly why I can’t tell you!” He says, dropping his hands from his face as he finally looks at her again. Her eyebrows furrowed together confusedly as she stood there waiting for him to elaborate. He wanted to keep his crush on Kie a secret in hopes that it would go away in time, but she was relentless and wouldn’t be satisfied until he told the truth. 

He inhaled a deep breath, inwardly mustering up the courage to say what he’s about to reveal to her. “I–” He pauses, swallowing a thick lump that formed in the hollow of his dry throat. “I like you. A lot, okay? I always have. I’ve had a crush on you since you first moved here and joined the Pogues. That night on the dock when we were talking, it looked like you wanted to–but it doesn’t matter because Pogues can’t mack on other Pogues and you’ve made it very clear that you don’t like me in that way.” He mutters, shrugging his shoulder. 

“What?” 

JJ rolls his eyes, “John B told me about the kiss. I always figured that you liked him since you two were always flirting–” 

She interrupts him mid-sentence, shaking her head. “Woah, okay, yes maybe I did flirt with John B a little and yeah we did kiss but it didn’t mean anything. I told him that I didn’t like him in that way.”

JJ nodded in confirmation. “Because you’re friends, right? You didn’t want to risk making things awkward in the group because of it. Which is exactly how I feel. I know you don’t feel the same, and it’s okay because eventually, hopefully, I’ll get over it and it won’t hurt so much. It’s just that you mean so much to me and I’m sorry for ignoring you, okay? I’m not good with all this, feelings and talking about them. I figured that if I distanced myself from you then it would be easier to try to move on.” He admits, finishing his confession with a soft sigh. 

Kiara stood there quietly, staring at him with an unreadable expression marring her face. 

JJ curses lowly, worried that his fear of making things awkward between them had come true due to his admittance of his feelings. Slowly standing to his feet, JJ approaches Kie to further express his sorrows. “I’m sorry if I made things weird. I shouldn’t have said anything. Look, I’ll forget any of this ever happened if you do.” When she doesn’t say anything in response, JJ somberly nods his head. “Right. I’m gonna head back home. I guess I’ll catch up with you guys later.” He states, giving her a brief goodbye wave before turning around and walking off, heading in the direction of the door.

He’s halfway to the door when he feels her hand clasp on his forearm, tugging gently at it to get him to stop walking. JJ halts mid-gait and turns around to look at her. “What–” The remainder of his sentence is cut off by Kiara grabbing ahold of his shoulders and pulling him down for a deep kiss.

At first, JJ stood there taut; completely shocked by what was happening. Then, he slowly eased into it and began reciprocating her soft kisses. His hand reached up and cupped her face within his palm, his thumb softly stroked at the plushness of her cheek while the rest of his fingers curled through her hair. His heart avidly flutters; her lips are succulent and soft and taste a little like the cherry flavored chapstick that she always wears.

When they finally retract from the kiss, they’re both breathless and breathing heavily. JJ’s the first one to open his eyes; looking into her warm, russet colored eyes. When Kie finally opens hers, she smiled softly at him. “What was that for?” He whispers, his heart was pounding so loudly that he could practically hear it thudding in his ears.

“The kiss?” He nods, swallowing nervously. Kiara chuckled softly as she furrows her eyebrows. “It was my way of saying ‘I like you too’” She says. JJ’s eyes widen aghastly.

“Y-You do? But what about the rules and–” She silences him with another kiss, marring her mouth over his and delicately savoriness in the taste of his lips. JJ groans lowly, his hands drop onto her hips, fingers dig into her skin.

He swears he could feel his heart nearly thrashing with a nervous excitement as they stood there kissing, wrapped into each other’s embrace. Her lips were so soft and each time she kissed him he felt his legs nearly give in beneath him. Kiara pecks his lips, pulling away slightly. “I don’t care about those rules. I like you, JJ. Only you.”

That was two months ago. Since then the two of them have been secretly dating each other behind their friend’s back. It’s not like they didn’t want to tell them, because they did they just were afraid of making things weird between them, especially with John B since he kissed her.

So, they decided to keep things discrete for a while just until they could find the right time to tell their friends. But sneaking around was much harder than they thought. Whenever they were around John B and Pope (which was like all of the time) it took everything in JJ to not reach over and kiss her, or touch her hand when they’re not looking.

Kiara felt the same way too; whenever JJ would take off his shirt, she’d have to reluctantly try not to ogle at his toned chest with John B and Pope around. It was hard, cause all she wanted to do was kiss him and run her fingers through his blond hair.

They would hang out in each other’s houses when their parents were away. They often spent most of their time in Kiara’s room when her parents went away to work because JJ didn’t like having her in that environment around his place. She didn’t care of course, but he insisted that they meet at her place instead. Like now.

JJ wet his bottom lip with his tongue as he slid his hand over the flattened smoothness of her stomach. Kiara shivered softly at the contact, her breath hitching a little. “Hm. You sure like to tease don’t you?” She rasps, in which he only smirks roguishly in retort.

“You’re the one that started it first. I’m just returning the favor.” He rasps, his voice decimated into a low, throaty octave that nearly makes her keen in need. He drops his head, nestling it between the space between her clavicle and her neck. His mouth sucks delicately on her caramel toned skin, pampering it with dark love bites.

“My dad will kill me if he sees hickeys on my neck.” She says, though she does nothing to stop the salacious movement of his wanton lips.

JJ hums under his breath, as his mouth leaves her neck and began a sinous path, kissing her chin, then moving along to both of her cheeks before eventually finding her lips again. He tugged on her bottom lip, nonverbally begging for her to part her mouth further open so he can access his tongue into her mouth.

Kiara complies, opening her mouth just enough so he could kiss her deeply with his tongue. Her head feels like it’s spinning, her body feels wanting with a carnal need. She intwined her tongue with his, wrestling for dominance.

And JJ swears he could get drunk off of this—off of _her_ and the way her body responds to his touch, how she shivers when his hands ghost over her stomach, how she moans softly into his mouth when he nips at her lips. Or the way she looks at him so softly with enamor when he pulls back to look at her again.

She looks so perfect as she’s laid beneath him, her hair messily splayed out across the bed, lips red and plumped, eyes lowly lidded. She’s beautiful. And he sits there quietly, feeling grateful that he’d had someone so understanding and caring like her in his life.

“What?” Kie asks softly, nudging him gently in the shoulder.

JJ shakes his head, smiling softly. “Nothing. I’m just–happy. Really fucking happy. Happier than I’ve been in a long time.”

And Kie reflects the smile as she wraps her arms around his neck and pulls his down to her again. “Me too.”


	2. Chapter 2

They’re all sitting around on John B’s dock; a book about the history of coroners sat open on Pope’s lap as his eyes avidly read over the printed words, John B sat quietly, riffing his deft fingers against the strings of his guitar as he hummed a song inwardly under his breath, while JJ’s attention was averted outward to the scenery of the water. 

“So, what are we doing today?” JJ asks, having grown weary of the silence that lingered amongst them. They had been sitting here for hours, he was starting to get unbearably bored. He shifted, turning around so that he was now facing the direction of both of his friends. 

He raised an expectant brow, waiting for them to speak. John B shrugged his shoulder as he pursed his lip in thought. “Surfing?” He suggested, to no avail causing JJ to scoff. They’d already surfed twice today when the waves were at their peak.

“Ehhh!” JJ said, imitating the sound of a buzzer indicating that he neglected John B’s suggestion. “Pope?” He says, hoping that the brains of the group would think of something better to do to pique their entertainment. 

“We could go down to the library. They just ordered in these new books last week—” He began to divulge in his avidity about the new set of historical books that were purchased about coroners, but JJ quickly halted that conversation before Pope could further ramble on. 

He exasperatedly threw his hands in the air, groaning softly. “Pope, I love you bro, but I would rather chop off my right foot than go to the library and read books about fixing up dead people.” He truthfully admits, in which Pope frowns slightly before returning his attention to the book seated in his lap. 

“Seriously, is _this_ what we’re gonna sit around and do all day?” JJ ponders in disbelief. 

“There’s not a lot of options. I would say we could take the ferry and get off of the island for the day, but Kie’s not here.” John B ripostes, setting his guitar aside in favor of grabbing ahold of his now, lukewarm can of beer that had sat there untouched for twenty minutes. He picks it up and takes a large swig, playfully smirking as he offered it out to Pope. 

Pope rolls his eyes and swatted John B’s hand away. “Yeah, where is Kie anyway? Usually she’d be here by now bossing us around.” He curiously inquired to both of his friends. 

They both shrugged, uncertain of their other friend’s current whereabouts. JJ had texted her numerous times earlier, asking where she was and if she was okay. She replied hours later with a monosyllabic answer, that left JJ conflicted. It wasn’t like her to avoid him like this, usually they’d be texting each other nonstop (unbeknownst to their friends), sharing secret inside jokes and exchanging heartfelt sentiments with each other. 

Though she assured him that she was okay, JJ still worried. Aside from that one quick one-worded text, JJ hadn’t spoken to or seen his girlfriend all day. He tried not to let his concern show too much as he knew that if he did, it could possibly reveal the truth about him and Kie secretly dating and neither one of them were ready to tell John B or Pope yet. 

Just as JJ’s thoughts began to wander on his girlfriend, he glanced up to see her suddenly approaching. She smiled softly when she met his gaze, bringing her hand up mid-air as she greeted him with a wave. “Afternoon, boys.” 

She flopped down on the empty spot next to JJ, tucking her legs beneath her as she sat cross legged. “What’s going on with you guys?” She asked, reaching forward to grab herself a can of cold beer from the cooler.

“Nothing.” Pope answers, his eyes still cemented on the crisp pages of his book. “Just trying to figure out what we want to do today.”

John B nods, “Yeah. We were talking about maybe taking the ferry today, thought that we could get off the island for a little bit.”

Kiara sighed softly as she shook her head, declining her friend’s offer. Though she greatly wanted to join them in whatever adventurous escapades they had planned for the day, she couldn’t leave due to an unfortunate obligation she had. “Sounds fun but you guys’ll have to go without me.”

JJ’s eyebrows furrowed in an inquiring curiosity. “What, why?”

“Because,” She complains, exhaling a prolonged sigh. She rolls her eyes in annoyance before further elaborating in her explanation. “Sarah’s stepmom is having this cotillion-debutante-ball- type thing and my mom forced me to sign up. We’ve been rehearsing all week for it. The party’s tonight and I still have to go back home and get dressed for it. She’d pop a blood vessel if I skip out on this.” Kiara attests, much to her dismay.

Although she greatly despised activities such as these, especially ones that involved her interacting with the Kooks, Kiara knew that in the battle of arguing this against her parents were futile. They had both expressed their vim about her “redeeming” herself into the Kooks socialites. Kie had no intentions whatsoever in being apart of that group ever again, but she knew that her doing this would please her parents.

So, she decided to proceed through in attending the cotillion per her parents wishes, though it’s not like they gave her much of a choice to object against it anyway.

Kiara narrowed a glowered scowl at John B and punched him against the shoulder when he began to erupt in laughter. He raised his hands in the air defensively, still laughing humorously. “I’m sorry. I’m just imagining you in one of those white gowns all dolled up, dancing with one of those Kook guys as your escort.”

Kiara groaned irritably, “Don’t remind me. I’ve got the worst of the worst as my escort, Rafe.” She shudders, his name rolls off her tongue sourly as she thinks back on the unfortunate encounters she had with him all week in rehearsals.

“Rafe?” JJ asks, frowning slightly at the thought of that narcissistic asshole being anywhere near Kie.

“Yep. The one and only. Being around him all week, I’ve learned that he is actually more annoying that I thought.” She shakes her head, taking a light sip of her beer.

“Well, since Kie can’t leave and there isn’t anything else to do how ’bout we go back to my place and watch a few movies then? My dad will be out working all day so you guys can come over.” Pope suggests.

Normally, their hangout spot would be at John B’s since he was the only one in the group that didn’t have an authoritative figure watching out for him, which allowed them to do anything that they pleased in opposed to Kie or Pope’s whose parents disliked them and JJ’s who was hardly ever there but unleashed an aggressive wrath every time he was and they disliked him for obvious reasons and always opted to stay far away from there.

But Kie and Pope were the only of them that have televisions in their houses, and since they couldn’t step foot in the vicinity of Kie’s place while her parents were still there, that meant that they would be bypassing time in Pope’s house.

Pope looked at each of his friends, gauging their reactions and waiting for an answer. They all shrugged and nodded their heads in agreement.

“Cool with me.” John B states, groaning softly as he rises to his feet, dusting the excess dirt off the back of his shorts.

“Yeah, me too. I just gotta leave kinda early to get ready though.” Kiara inputs, following in tandem with John B as she stands on her feet as well. They all turned to JJ, waiting for his confirmation.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll meet you guys there though, there’s something that I have to do back at my place.” He counters, giving Kie an expectant look. The subtle innuendo lets her know that he was implying that he wanted her to hang back as well so they could talk privately.

She nods, “Shit, guys. I forgot that I was supposed to run by the shop to pick up my dress for tonight. So I’ll meet you guys there too.”

Pope raises a brow at them. “You sure? Well, we can just wait on you guys–”

“Uh, no that’s okay. I don’t know how long it’ll take. I’ll probably have to make adjustments to the dress, you know.” Kiara quickly assess, hoping that her excuse was believable enough.

John B and Pope exchanged a look before eventually relenting. “Okay. Well I’ll leave the van with you guys then. That way JJ you can drop Kie off while you run to your house and you can pick her up when she’s done. Pope and I will take the boat.”

John B dug around in his pockets and fished out his car keys, tossing them to JJ. They all said their goodbyes before parting ways. JJ and Kie stood there, waiting as John B and Pope filed into the boat and began to drift off. When their friends were out of view, JJ grabbed ahold of Kie’s hand and tugged her towards him.

She giggled, tossing her arms around his neck as she stood on the tip of her toes, pulling him down for a kiss. “You have no idea how much I wanted to kiss you since I got here,” She whispers against his mouth, marring her wanton lips along his.

“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to do this.” JJ says, crouching down a little bit and bending his knees as he tightens his grip around her waist and lifts her into the air. Kie instinctively wraps her legs around his slender waist, chiseling his body closer until their chests are pressed tightly against each other’s.

They kiss each other, ravenously, deeply, their mouths never retracting as JJ corners them against the hood of the van, holstering her body in place as his hands cup her ample butt cheeks within its firm grip.

She moans breathily as she feels the rigid hardening of his arousal prodding her apex. His wet tongue is licking her neck, teeth teasingly tugging on her earlobe, hands exploring the curvaceous crevasses of her body.

Kie swallows thickly, exhaling a trembling breath as she stutters to form a coherent sentence. “We should–the car–we can’t–not out here,” She stammers, her mind too hazy, body too wanting with an aching need.

JJ manages to decipher the butchered jumbling of her words and nods as his shaking hand inserts the key inside of the keyhole to unlock the van. They’re still a tangle of limbs as JJ somehow miraculously gets inside of the van with Kei’s legs still wrapped around his waist.

He absentmindedly tossed the mess of soda cans and fast food wrappers that were cluttered on the seat, onto the floor along with the rest of the trash before gently lowering her onto the seat. Her hips are lurching forward, desperate for the need of skin-to-skin contact with him.

“This—off,” She demands breathing raggedly and tugging at the hem of his tank top as she hastily struggled to shuck it off of his body. JJ assists her, lifting his arms in the air as he mindlessly tossed it aside. His mouth finds her skin again and began to raffishly suck on the delicate flesh.

His eyes flickered upward, watching her, his gaze smothering and unwavering as he hikes up her shirt, exposing the smoothed softness of her stomach. His lips descended downward, leaving a sinuous path of open mouthed kisses. He kisses down her body until he reaches her stomach.

She writhes helplessly beneath him, her fingers scratching his scalp, eyes rolling to the back of her head as feels the coolness of his breath tickling her skin. She bites down on her bottom lip when she feels his mouth tentatively lowering closer towards the waistband of her shorts.

“JJ.” She keens, desperate for him to do something, anything. She lifts her hips closer to his face, the gesture letting him know that she was tired of the teasing foreplay.

“Yeah?” He teased, acting completely oblivious to her salacious needs. Kie, deciding to obtain the advantage, trailed her hand down his chest, feeling the hardness of his abs beneath her fingertips. Then she sneakily slid her hand inside the front of his shorts, causing him to inhale a soft, shaky breath.

“No more teasing.” She kissed his cheek and in tandem, they both worked each other out of their clothing until they were completely nude. Though the position they were in wasn’t too comfortable, their sexual tryst still had both of them clawing, keening in a insatiable need for each other.

It was slow, unhurried. They’d only had sex twice, but they were still learning each other’s body, discovering what they liked and what worked for them. JJ inwardly memorized all of her favorite spots, what made her bite her lip and moan his name the loudest, or what made her hands roughly pull at his hair.

Much to Kie’s surprise, JJ was very vocal through each of their sexual encounters and upheld no hesitancy in letting her hear them. She found it incredibly sexy.

Their bodies were intwined, slicked with heavy sweat. The sounds of their rugged breathing, and the creaking of the seat moving beneath them filled throughout air tight van. Kie resembled a goddess as her body moved in tandem with his, opening to his onslaught, devouring him with feverish kisses.

He didn’t vocalize it out loud, but as each day passed JJ had began to slowly fall more in love with Kie. His feelings were beginning to consume him so much that he couldn’t function throughout the day without thinking of her. She was perfect to him, and he loved every part of her.

JJ’s retracted from his reverie by the feeling of Kie’s nails clawing into his shoulders, seeking as an anchor as her body succumbs to her arousal. She trembles beneath him, her mouth parting agape into a perfect _‘O’_ shape as she she shudders through it.

He follows behind, his face buried in the crook of her neck, back hunched over as he comes undone. When they’re done and cleaned up (to the best of their ability) they began to get dressed.

The sound of Kie’s phone buzzing in her short pocket causes her to scramble over to the discarded article of clothing. She digs through the pocket until she retrieves her phone. JJ slid his boxers back over his hips, watching as Kei sat there reading a text that appeared on her phone.

She groaned, muttering a _fuck_ underneath her breath.

“Everything okay?” He asked curiously. Kie nods as she sighed softly.

“Yeah. My mom just texted and said that she has a hair appointment schedule for me in twenty minutes so I can’t go with you guys to Pope’s.” She explained, shimmying her denim shorts back over her hips as she began to search for her bra.

JJ nodded his head, attempting to hide the disappointment from showing on his face. But if the look that Kie was currently giving him was anything to go by, then he knew he failed greatly. “I know that I haven’t been around as much but I promise as soon as this is over we can go back to the way things were.”

JJ sighs as he runs a hand through his hair. “It’s not that, Kie” She furrows a frown, waiting for his elaboration. “It feels like you have this whole other part of your life that I’m not apart of because of who I am and your parents hating me for it. Like I can never be that guy to escort you to cotillions or dances.”

“JJ–”

“And at first it really didn’t bother me because I know you, Kei. I know you don’t care about shit like that. And I know I shouldn’t be jealous because Rafe’s like the epitome of a grade A privileged asshole and I know you’d never date a guy like him, but he just reminds me that I will never be him. He’s the guy your parents would prefer you to date, not me.” He sullenly admits.

He despises that there was even a remote part of him that envied Rafe, but not for his money and his socialite stature but because he was the ideal boy that everyone would want their daughter to date; he had wealth, a powerful father and in the eyes of everyone who observed them, he came from the perfect family.

JJ hates that he’s comparing himself to someone like Rafe because he knows that there’s more to a person that money and looks. He’s fairly secure with himself with the way he already is but knowing that Rafe had the opportunity to meet Kie’s parents, and had the advantage of wooing them in ways he couldn’t saddened him.

Because he did like Kie, a lot and he knows he shouldn’t care about other people’s of him but there was a naive hope that he would properly meet them one day and tell them how much he cared about their daughter and how much she meant to him.

Now, hearing how much Kie’s parents were opting for their daughter to become more Kook-like again, made JJ realize that that dream was not going to become his reality any time soon.

“JJ.” Kiara says again, this time moving closer to him. She straddles his lap, tossing her legs on either side of his hips as her hands reach up to cup his face, tilting it upward so that they’re making direct eye contact.

“You know I don’t care about that or what my parents or anyone else thinks about you. This cotillion is just to amuse my mom. I don’t care about the Kooks. I care about the Pogues and you. You don’t have to be jealous of Rafe or anyone because you are the only person that I like. And you’re right, you aren’t like Rafe. And I’m glad because he is an asshole and I would never want you to be like him or the rest of them.”

JJ looks into her eyes, his face wans a hopeful expression. “Yeah?”

Kie nods assuringly. “I like you for you, JJ. That’s all that matters.” She says, sealing her stern declaration of promise of with a deep kiss against his lips. The grip of his hands around her waist tightened as he reciprocated her heartfelt kisses.

\--

He walks through into Pope’s room, chewing on a sandwich he prepared in the kitchen and squeezed on the bed in between Pope and John B who were in the middle of watching The Goonies.

“Where’s Kie?” Pope asked, shifting over a bit to make enough room for all of them on the bed.

“She had last minute cotillion stuff with her mom.” JJ explained as he chewed on the sandwhich, much to Pope’s dismay who chided him for talking with his mouth full of food. “You asked me a question!”

“Yeah, but you’re supposed to chew your food first then talk!” Pope argued defensively causing JJ to roll his eyes.

Next to them John B laughed and shook his head at the antics of his best friends. His laughter subsided when he noticed a dark bruise on the side of his neck. “Damn who did that?” John B asked, poking at the side of JJ’s neck with his finger.

Pope and JJ’s bickering stopped as John B’s sudden inquiry grasped their attention. “Did what?” Pope asked, craning his neck over to see what John B was referring to. He gasped and is eyes widened when he noticed the mouth shaped bruise. “Someone gave you a hickey!” He pointedly states.

JJ rolls his eyes, “How would you know you’ve never had one.”

“When you told us you were going back to your place–” John B started, then paused as he connected the gathered information. He smacked JJ against the shoulder. “Bro, you’re macking on a girl and you didn’t tell us!”

“Wait, what? You’re having sex with someone and you haven’t been bragging about it. That’s not like you.” Pope teasingly joked, causing JJ to flip an obscene gesture of his middle finger at him.

“Ha ha.” JJ dryly laughed at his friends failed humor. He shakes his head. “I’m not having sex with someone, okay? I like her a lot a-and I’m not talking about this with you two anymore so can we please watch the movie?” He asked, quickly wanting to subvert the topic of conversation, hoping that his friends wouldn’t notice the blush coloring his cheeks in chagrin.

Thankfully, they decided to drop the topic but not without a few more minutes of teasing of course. They attempted to vy the information about who he was seeing out of him, but JJ was discrete and continued to keep his and Kie’s secret.


	3. Chapter 3

“You look beautiful, baby.” Kie smiled halfheartedly, staring at her mother’s reflection in the mirror as she walked over to her daughter and hugged her from behind. Kie’s mom tucked a flyaway curl that loosely dangled from the updo of Kie’s hair behind her ear as she smiled softly.

She squeezed Kie’s shoulders affectionately, “You’re going to be one of the most stunning girls there tonight. When we get there, I want to take pictures of you and Rafe to commemorate the moment of you finally becoming an Outer Banks debutante.” Her mother exclaimed with vim, her smile spread widely on her lips as she expressed her excitement. 

But Kie’s smile hastily dissipated and transitioned into a moue frown at the mention of Rafe’s name. Kie been painfully dreading this night since her mother initially informed her that she’d signed her up for this. After enduring a long, treacherous week of rehearsals with him and his overly flirtatious banter, the last thing she wanted was to deal with him for another moment. Luckily, after today she could go back to purposefully avoiding him and the rest of his narcissistic asshole Kook friends. 

“Mom, I don’t want to take pictures with Rafe. I already don’t want to be anywhere near him anyway. He’s a creep.” She rebuttals in protest, turning around so that she’s now fully facing the direction of her mother.

“The Cameron’s are respected on the island for a reason. Ward has done incredible things to keep this community afloat. Rafe might be a little... _misguided_ ,” Kiara scoffs and rolled her eyes at her mother’s misconstrued use of the proper adjective in describing Rafe. He was more than ‘misguided’ but of course he was never punished or reprimanded publicly for his actions due to his privilege and nepotism. “But, he’s still a good kid. And he practically begged to be your partner in escorting you tonight, so try to be a little nice to him Kiara.” 

“He asked for me specifically?” She asked, feeling surprised upon hearing this and a little skeptical about his true intentions. Sure, he flirted with her every now and then but mostly they avoided each other at any given cost. So she was curious to know why Rafe would go out of his way to be paired with her. 

“Yes, he did. I think he likes you. I ran into him at the other day and he had nothing but nice things to say about you. He’s the kind of young man you should be giving your attention to, not those other boys you choose to hang out with.” Her mother chided, disapproval shrilled heavily in her voice at the mention of Kie’s friends. 

Kie sighed in exasperation, not in the mood of hearing her mother yet again speak ill of her friends. It was always the same thing with both of her parents; judging them without even getting a chance to know them. They’d settled their dislike on JJ primarily due to his history of constantly getting in trouble. They thought he was a bad influence on her. 

With John B they also felt that he too was misguided due to the lack of a guardian in his care to watch out for him. Pope, however they were a little more lenient on. While he was more liked than JJ and John B, Kiara’s parents thought that Pope was wasting his potential by hanging out with the Pogues just like their daughter. 

Kiara never payed any attention to what her parents said about her friends, but she had grown tired of the relentless misjudging about them. 

“You don’t even know them, mom. You and dad have never even given them a chance. Your opinions on them are based on the rumors spread by those no life Kooks.”

Kie’s mother perched her hands on her hips at tilted her head knowingly at her daughter. “I know enough about them to know that you’re too good to be gallivanting around with them all day long.” Kie shook her head and rolled her eyes in annoyance, at her mother’s avail.

“So, I’m guessing that means you wouldn’t like it if I invited them to come tonight?”

Her mother gaped incredulously at her, chuckling wryly. “You already know the answer to that question. I’m going to shower and change into something more appropriate for the occasion then we’ll head out.” Kie’s mother walked over to her, pecking one last kiss on her left cheek before whispering, “You’re going to be amazing tonight, sweetie.” before finally making her egress.

Kie’s somber mood shifted into despondency, after enduring that conversation with her mother in regards to her friends. She didn’t expect her parents to like her friends but they could at least try to tolerate them for her sake. She knows that she shouldn’t allow other people’s opinions to affect her but she was always defensive of her friends, especially JJ who was always being ridiculed just by association of who his father is.

It was unfair for everyone’s perception of her friends to be so biased just because they were Pogues. As Kiara sat there waiting at the edge of her bed, she contemplated on whether or not she should text the guys and invite them anyway, on the contrary to her mother’s command.

But the more she thought about it, she didn’t want them to have to sit around in a room full of people that didn’t like them and would probably spend most of their time slyly gossiping about them instead of paying attention to the ceremony. Besides, knowing the Cameron’s they’d find someway to kick her friends out of the facility anyway so she decided to avoid all the drama and ultimately chose not to invite them.

This way the night could go by smoothly and she wouldn’t have to partake in this cotillion bullshit ever again.

When they arrive, the ballroom is crowded with bodies of people filling the chair, the sounds of their hushed chatters as they conversed amongst each other filled the air. Kiara walked into the building, her fairly tall all black strapped heels clink against the tiles of the hardwood floor as the walked further into the room.

She recoiled inwardly, suddenly feeling out of place in a room full of Kooks. She stood quietly in the corner, mindlessly looking around while her parents sauntered off to go find their seats.

Kie bit on her lower lip, shaking her head as she inwardly chides herself. _‘Why did I agree to do this again’_ she ponders, apprehending on turning around and running out of the building, but just as she turns on her heels to hide away in the bathroom she stumbles into Rafe who had been walking over to approach her.

She looses her footing for a bit and stumbles lightly at the hard collision against his chest. Rafe’s reflective instincts are quick and intact as he takes a step forward and catches her by the waist, steadying her balance again. “Woah, you okay?” He asked, looking down at her worriedly.

She nods, clearing her throat as she untangles herself from his embrace, folding her arms across her chest. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

Rafe nods in response. His eyes admiringly rove over her body as he heeds in her current apparel. He whistled, nodding his head approvingly. “Damn, you look–” When she cuts her eyes and scowls at him, almost challenging him to make an inappropriate comment, he raises his hands defensively in the air. “I was going to say beautiful, I promise.”

Kie clicks her tongue against her teeth then chuckled wily at him in disbelief. She was in no mood of trying to figure out what Rafe’s ulterior motives were. She just wanted to hurry up and get this night over with.

“You know I asked if I could escort you tonight.” Rafe says, starting a conversation that Kie had no desire in engaging in. He continues to speak anyway. “I wanted everyone to see me walk down those steps with the most beautiful girl in the Outer Banks,”

When Kie continues to remain silent amid his confession, Rafe’s unrelenting talking continued. “I’ve always had a crush on you ever since you first moved here. I wanted to talk to you so many times, but you started hanging with those dirty Pogues—”

“Can all the young women please gather in the middle of the room for a pre ceremony picture!” Kie sighs in relief that she had been saved from having to endure another minute of Rafe’s horrible attempt of flirting with her.

“Gotta go.” She said, quickly walking off and heading towards the other side of the room before he could respond. She walks over to where the group of girls stood gathered around waiting.

\--

The initiation portion of the ceremony proceeded by rather quickly, much to Kie’s mirthfulness. When her name was called, she walked down the curved flight of stairs, placating a faux smile as she continued to gaiter down heading towards Rafe who awaited at the bottom of the stairs with his hand extended out to her.

He kissed her hand (which was something that they didn’t agree on. She kicked him in the shin when they were out of everyone’s eyesight) then walked off towards the tables where they were assigned to sit at. While they were waiting for everyone’s name to finished being called, Kie stealthily snuck off to use the restroom.

She ducked off quietly, weaving her way through the crowd of tables and made her way to the main reception hall. After finding the restroom which was located in the far back of the building, she pushed the door open and entered inside.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she felt uncomfortable at the sight before her. She promised herself years ago after she stopped being a Kook that she’d never return back to this shallow lifestyle. But here she was; all dolled up, surrounded by a room full of Kooks and being escorted by the jackass of them all just to please her parents.

Knowing that she couldn’t hide in the bathroom forever, Kie reapplied a bit more of lip gloss on her lips and adjusted her dress before eventually going back out there. Upon her return, she sees that the debutantes are now dancing with their escorts.

Rafe’s leaning against the doorway waiting for her. “There you are. For a second there I thought you went to the bathroom to try to escape.”

“Yeah. I should’ve.” Kie commented sarcastically, sighing deeply. “Alright, let’s get this over with.” She says as she walks into the main ballroom again with Rafe in tow.

He scoffs at the lack of enthusiasm in her voice. “You could at least pretend to be enjoying yourself.”

“You don’t think I’m enjoying myself? What would possibly give you that idea?” She quips sarcastically, throwing the jestful remark over her shoulder. She stands in the center of the room and puts her arms in position. Rafe stands athwart from her and inches closer towards her, enclosing the space between them as he slides one of his hands within hers while the other rested on the small of her back.

They move their feet in tandem along with the rhythm of the music. “You act like I repulse you.”

“I’m not acting, dude. You and the rest of your Kook friends are repulsive.” She quickly snaps, focusing her eyes on anything but his face as he was currently staring at her intensely.

“You hate us but you have no problem dressing up and pretending to be one of us.” He countered, in rebuttal to her comment as he twirled her around a bit then brought her back towards his chest.

“Believe me, I would rather be anywhere else than standing here with you. I’m only doing this for my mom, not that it’s any of your business.”

“You’d rather be hanging out with your Pogue friends?” Rafe questions in a snarl, in which Kie rolls her eyes in annoyance, but then his sly comment of: “What you really mean is you’d rather be with JJ.” She falters a bit and pauses as she glared a look at him, curiously wondering the meaning behind his unsubtle innuendo.

Rafe chuckled bitterly as he shook his head. He moved his face closer to hers so he could shield the sound of his hushed whispers from everyone else. “Does your parents know that you’re slumming it up with that greasy Pogue? What about the other two; Johnny B and Pope, do they know about you two?”

Kie tried to maintain a nonchalant demeanor to trick him into thinking that she had no idea what he was hinting at. But her faux attempt must’ve failed because she could feel the hotness of his breath ticking against her skin as he moves closer. “You shouldn’t leave your phone on the table when you go to the restroom. I saw a very detailed message about how much he missed you today and a couple other things that I won’t say. ” He smirks mischievously, winking teasingly at her.

Kie gasped as she angrily shoved at his shoulders. “Fucking creep you snooped through my phone.” Her raised voice caused a few bystanders to glance their way, but Rafe quickly assured them that everything was okay which resulted in them returning back to minding their own business.

When Rafe turns back to face Kie, her face is settled into an angry scowl, her hands are folded across her chest, and her jaw is clenched. It took every fiber of her being to resist the urge of slapping him in the face.

“I didn’t snoop. You left the phone on the table. It buzzed. I noticed you had just received a text message. I picked it up and happened to see the message.” He shrugged as if his actions of invading her privacy was no big deal. “I’m kinda surprised by you Kie. JJ?” Rafe made a disapproving ‘tsking’ sound under his breath as he shook his head. “I should’ve known your taste in guys were horrible when you wouldn’t bother to give me the time of day but JJ? I thought you would’ve at least gone for John B or Pope before JJ.”

The way Rafe was saying JJ’s name and talking about him as if it left a foul taste on his tongue made Kei abhorrently seethe. Who the fuck did he think he was, giving his unwanted opinions about who she chose to date. She could care less about anything he had to say, but she refused to let him continue to speak down on JJ or her friends for another moment.

“Fuck you. You think you’re this big hot shot because daddy’s popular on the island? You wanna know why I never gave your sorry ass the time of the day?” She stepped forward, leaning down slightly so she could whisper in his ear. “Because I would never date a pansy ass, privileged little jackass like you. You’re a joke, Rafe. All you do is snort coke all day and run around fucking shit up that your daddy always end up having to fix. JJ, John B and Pope are better men than you’ll ever be. And I think you know it too, don’t you Rafe? That’s why you’re so jealous of them isn’t it?”

When she sees his jaw clench and his eyes darken, Kiara smiled as she pats a hand against his cheek. “Aw, don’t be so upset. I’m sure you’ll find someone desperate enough to date you one day.” She pulled away from him then turned on her heels as she walked away.

She grabs her purse off of the table and pulls out her phone as she made her way to the front door. “Kie?” She glanced up from her phone to see JJ, John B and Pope all standing ahead of her. She blinks, confused as to why they were here.

Tucking her phone away back into her purse, she inquired the question of “What are you guys doing here?” They shared a confused look between each other then looked back at her with furrowed eyebrows.

“You texted us to come meet you here.” Pope answers, causing Kie’s confusion to further accrue. She had no recollection in doing that whatsoever.

“I didn’t text you.” Just as she parted her mouth to continue speaking, the sound of heavy footsteps ascending nearer causes her to turn around. Rafe’s stanfing behind her, hands relaxed in his front pockets, a devilish grin worn on his lips.

“Ah, I see you received my invitation boys.”

John B’s eyes flicker towards Kie confusedly. “Okay, what’s going on here? Why would you text us from Kie’s phone about coming here tonight?”

“Well, _Johnny,_ boy” Rafe sighs softly as he promptly sauntered over to where Kie was standing. John B’s face scrunched in a disliking frown at the name Rafe referred to him as. “I thought it would be nice for you guys to be here to celebrate Kie’s night. After all, you guys are such good friends, right?” He asks, still smiling impishly in a taunting manner as he gently squeezes Kie’s shoulder.

It only takes her a few seconds to realize the reason for his inviting them over. “Rafe, don’t!” She forewarned in caution. It’s not as if she intended on keeping the secret from her friends forever, she planned on telling them someday in the future when she was ready. She sure as hell didn’t want them finding out about her and JJ this way from Rafe who was only doing this for revenge.

Rafe scoffed jestfully as he placed a hand over his heart. “What?” He asked in faux innocence. “I thought you guys were the best of best friends who told each other everything? JJ’s more of a man than I’ll ever be, right Kie? Makes it kinda pathetic and hypocritical that he’s keeping this secret from his two friends.” He tantalized, much to John B and Pope’s utter confusion.

“Unless...” Rafe paused, stopping in front of them. “They already know.” He smirks at Kie and JJ before diverting his attention back to a befuddled Pope and John B. “Do you guys know? About these two?”

This time it’s JJ who speaks up. His jaw is clenched tight and his hands are curling into fists at his side. “Alright, that’s enough. You made your point.” He says through clenched teeth, taking a small step forward towards Rafe.

“Me? What did _I_ do? You two are the ones that’s hiding this big secret from your best friends. What kind of man is that, huh Kie? This coward’s too afraid to tell his friends that you two are having sex. I mean, come on is this really the kind of guy you want to be dating? A low life fuck up who isn’t going to amount to anything except for turning into a slumped out pathetic drunk like his father.”

At this, JJ’s sense of patience wears out. His clenched fist tightens and his eyes darken upon hearing Rafe’s gravelly mention of his father. In a swift motion, JJ charges towards Rafe with his fist flying through the air, connecting against the chisel of his face.

“ _JJ_!” Kie cries, quickly stepping aside as the two of them continued to brawl. JJ managed to tumble down Rafe onto the ground. They’re shuffling around, trying to fight for dominance. Grunts and curse words spew through the air as their fracas intensified.

“Guys, do something!” She frantically urged her best friends, her worrying for JJ suddenly increased as Rafe gained the advantage as was now slouched over JJ, punching him against the torso as well as any other visible body part that he could reach. She could see the blood beginning to spill from JJ’s nose.

At this, John B and Pope hurriedly scrambled over to where Rafe and JJ where tousling around. They pushed and grabbed at Rafe’s shoulders trying to get him off of JJ. John B received a punch in the stomach in the midst of this, causing him to groan and crouch over in pain. But miraculously, Pope somehow managed to pry Rafe off of JJ.

Rafe stumbled backwards, landing in his back while JJ laid on the ground, blood spilling out everywhere, groaning in pain. “JJ!” Kiara hastily ran to his side, crouching down on the floor next to him to attend his wounds.

All of the commotion caught the attention of the guests who were seated in the ballroom because next thing Kie knows, they’re all piling up in the hallway to see what the cause of the noisey disturbance was, including her parents.

“Kiara!” Her mother gasped horrendously as she stared at the scene in front of her. Her eyes lingered over to JJ who was still bloodied and curled into the fetal position on the floor. “What the hell is going on here?” She shifted her gaze between a bruised JJ and Rafe, and from the way her eyes transfixed in realization Kiara already knew that her mother was somehow going to pin the blame all on JJ.

But Kiara didn’t even have the energy in even trying to explain the situation to her mother. No matter what she said, her mom was still going to find a way to fault JJ. And Kie wasn’t about to sit around and listen to it not when she had to clean JJ up and make sure that he was okay.

“Can you guys help him up, please?” She asks John B and Pope who nod silently and each lug one of JJ’s slouched arms across their shoulders as they steadied him on his feet.

“Kiara—”

“No, mom.” Kiara interjects her mother mid-sentence, already knowing the direction of where this conversation was heading in. “I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear you tell me that I shouldn’t be hanging out with them because they’re too much trouble or that I’m too good to hang out with them. Because they’re not and I’m not. They’re my friends. And right now, one of my friends need me so I’m leaving with them so we can make sure he’s okay.” She stated sternly, much to her mother’s dismay who looked perplexed at her daughter’s blatant disregard of her authority.

Kie picked up her purse, tucking it underneath her arm and placed a steady hand on JJ’s back as she walked side by side with her friends as they walked out the door to carry him to the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it’s exactly 4:47am as i’m publishing this. there are more than likely going to be spelling errors, (i’m too lazy and tired to fix them right now) but i’ll do it later. 
> 
> also, does anyone know kei’s mom name?? lmaoo not sure if they mentioned it in the show and i forgot or they didn’t give her an actual name. can someone let me know so i can stop typing out ‘kei’s mom’ so much :/


	4. Chapter 4

Kie’s running her fingers through JJ’s disheveled coiffs, stroking the blond tendrils of his hair while her other hand held a blotted piece of tissue against his nose, dabbling the spews of blood that drenched from his nose. 

JJ’s laid out on the backseat, his head resting comfortably in Kie’s lap as she heedily attended to his wounds. He winces lowly in pain, his mouth jutted in a downward grimace when he shifts against her in attempts of trying to sit upward. But Kie rests her hand on his chest, gently easing him back down in the laying position. 

“Don’t move too much.” She forewarned him in caution, not wanting him to further hurt himself. 

JJ nods silently, slowly easing his head back onto Kie’s lap. He looks up at her, quietly observing while she assessed his maimed body. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, the tip of her tongue prodded against her inner cheek as she wiped up the thick smears of blood from his nostrils. He wraps his fingers around her wrist, gently tugging on it to grasp her attention. 

Kie stops her movements momentarily and glances down at him. “You okay?” He asked, feeling guilty that he had ruined her night by partaking in that fight with Rafe. 

The crease in Kie’s furrowed brows deepened as she scoffs incredulously, “You’re sitting back here with a bloody nose and you’re worried about me?” 

JJ shrugs halfheartedly, the countenance of his face softens. “Well, yeah I mean I know how important this was for your mom and I just showed up and started a fight with Rafe–” 

“You didn’t start anything, JJ.” Kie assures him, staring intently into his eyes so that he could see the sincerity behind her words. She refused to allow him to believe that he had any fault in what occurred tonight. “And I don’t care if this night was important to my mom. What’s important to me is that you’re okay,” She says, her voice is soft as her finger caressed the curve of his plush cheek, his eyes flutter in content as the contact. 

The corners of his mouth twitch upward in a half-smile as he nods. “Yeah, I’m okay. I should probably stop getting into fights though because I always end up getting my ass kicked.” JJ chuckles, joking good naturedly as he tried to ease Kie’s concerns. 

She always hated seeing him get hurt. Ever since she learned that his father was abusive towards JJ, she’d been overly protective of him, not wanting anyone to ever lay a finger on him again. Kie knew that it would be nearly impossible because JJ would always jump in defense of her or any of the Pogues against anyone that spoke about them in a negative way, no matter if he ended up getting hurt. 

It was an idiosyncrasy of his that she couldn’t fault him for because that’s just the type of person JJ was; quick to defend his friend’s honor. She adored him for that, nonetheless no matter how much it pained her seeing him so bruised and beat up.

Kie chortled softly as she jestfully nodded her head in agreement. Their intimate moment of tranquility was soon interrupted by the sound of someone harrumphing loudly. 

Diverting her gaze away from JJ’s face, Kiara glances over shoulder and looks up to see John B and Pope starting at her. She had almost forgot that they were in here too. John B pulls his gaze away briefly to focus his attention back on the road. Pope however maintains his unwavered gaze with Kie raising an eyebrow. 

She knew what they wanted to discuss; about the fact that Rafe had blurtingly revealed that she and JJ had been secretly dating behind their backs. And from the knowing look that marred on JJ’s face, he too knew where the topic of discussion was heading in. 

They knew it was inevitable that John B and Pope would find out about them, but both Kei and JJ had initially hoped that the secret would be confessed on their own terms when they were ready, not by Rafe who had only told them out of malice. 

It wasn’t as if she was scared of telling her friends, she was just unsure of how they would react. She knew that her and JJ’s decision in transitioning from friends and delving into a romantic relationship would change the dynamic of their friendship. That was the whole reason for them making the forbidden rule of no Pogues making on each other to prevent any occurrences like that from possibly breaking up the group.

But Kiara and JJ’s feelings for one another were too powerful to ignore. They couldn’t repress how they felt any longer so they’d finally decided to act upon them. Part of them felt guilty that they had been discreetly keeping this secret from their friends for so long, but the other part of them felt glad that John B and Pope knew because now they wouldn’t have to hide their affection for each other in public anymore. 

Kie exhaled a deep breath as she purses her lips in thought, trying to inwardly muster the words to begin this conversation that she knew would be full of accusatory questions aimed at both of them. 

“We were going to tell you guys,” She starts, treading her words carefully, gauging for their reactions. “Obviously we didn’t want you to find out from Rafe.” She laments, rolling her eyes at the mention of his name as it rolled off her tongue. 

Beneath her, JJ nods his head in agreement. He groans as he slowly sits up, resting his against the back of the seat. “Yeah. I mean you’re our best friends. We wanted to tell you guys when the time was right.” 

“And it’s been killing us keeping this and sneaking behind your backs for so long.” 

John B averts his eyes towards the rear view mirror and stares at Kie in the reflection. “Exactly how long as this been going on?” He asks. To their surprise the tenor of his voice doesn’t resemble one of anger but simply one of genuine curiosity. 

Kie and JJ exchange a look between each other, inwardly calculating the time since their relationship began. “For about a month.” JJ answers, raising his eyebrows at Kie who smiles and nods her head. 

“It started a few nights after you kissed me, John B.” Kie truthfully admits, which causes John B to blush in chagrin at the memory and quickly divert his gaze away. He clears his throat and refocused on the road ahead of him, shifting slightly in the drivers seat. 

“We were sitting out by the docks talking and it just sorta happened.” Kie vaguely confesses; purposefully withholding the in depth details of what actually occurred between them on that rather evenful night as she knew that this was still baffling for them to process and she didn’t want to overwhelm them with all of the details.

When they sat there remaining silent, JJ took that as an initiative to continue speaking. “We know that we said no Pogue on Pogue macking and that you’re probably worried that things will change between all of us but—” He shook his head and chuckled softly as he flickered his eyes over to Kie

He feels his heart swell in enamor as he look at her. “The way I feel about Kie is...something else, man. Being with her has made me happier than I’ve been in a long time. And I know that this is a lot to handle right now but I hope you guys will understand because she’s everything to me and we won’t let what’s going on between us affect our friendship. We’re still Pogues for life that’ll never change.”

Kie reaches out to grab JJ’s hand and intertwined her fingers within his, giving it a reaffirming squeeze. She was never really much of a sentimental person but hearing JJ speak those words of affection about her nearly made Kie tear up. She too had felt happier than she had in a long time when she and JJ first started dating.

It was like her feelings for him seemingly accrued since they first started their secret rendezvous. She made him feel things that she had never felt for anyone before — which was surprising because when she had first became friends with him she would always nonchalantly brush off his flirtatious advances towards her, but now she couldn’t get enough of his corny pick up lines or the way he made her heart nervously flutter whenever he would look at her.

JJ was everything to her too and so much more.

The car is quiet for a few seconds and Kie begins to worry that they hadn’t been too receptive of the news like she had hoped. “Guys?”

Pope remained silent. He turned around in the front seat so that he was facing the direction of the road again. John B exhaled a deep sigh, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel.

“Well, I for one am happy for you guys. I mean it’s about time you guys started dating. It was actually starting to get so pathetic watching JJ secretly pining over you all these years.” He ripostes jokingly, the visible smile that spread across his lips lets JJ and Kie know that his comment was one of good nature.

JJ scoffs in a playful mock offense. “Woah. Hey, I was not pining, okay?”

John B rolled his eyes, “Dude you were the first one with to have a crush on Kie. Honesty I’m surprised it took you so long to make a move.”

“Oh he didn’t make the first move, _I_ did. He was too scared.” Kie admits, smirking impishly as she sees JJ’s cheeks flush a rosy pink color in embarrassment.

While John B and JJ bantered back and forth about JJ’s secret feelings that he harbored for Kieall these years, Kie noticed that Pope had yet to speak since they left the cotillion.

She moves into the single seat behind the passenger seat and scoots closer to him. She taps his shoulder, trying to capture his attention. “You okay up here?” Pope was never one to speak much out of everyone in the group, but the way he was this silent and hadn’t uttered a single word the entire car ride had started to worry her.

He hadn’t appeared to take the news as well as John B had. Something about the way he sat sullenly in the passenger seat, looking out the window made it seem as if he was upset by the news of her and JJ dating. But whatever those feelings were, he managed to placate a facade to hide his true emotions about the entire situation.

When Kie tapped his shoulder, Pope sat upright in the seat and smiled sheepishly at her. She worried a look at him. “You okay up here, you’ve been kinda quiet the whole time.”

Pope’s mouth twitched into a feeble smile as he nodded his head. “Yeah, yeah. I’m happy for you guys too. I guess I just didn’t see this ever happening between you two. But it did, you know so that’s good.”

Kie narrows a confused look at Pope upon noticing his aloof behavior. She could tell something about this was bothering him but she couldn’t exactly tell what it was or why the fact that her and JJ dating bothered him so much.

“If you’re worried that things will be weird I want you know nothing is going to change between us. We were all friends before this happened and we’ll still be friends through it. Like JJ said, we’re Pogues for life.”

“Yeah. Pogues for life.” Pope reiterates, giving her another half smile. Kie reaches around the seat and wraps her arms around his body, pulling him in for a hug. When they retract from the embrace, she pecks a kiss against his cheek and smiles before returning to her original seat next to JJ, where she snuggled against his chest and laughed while she listened to him and John B continue to go back and forth.

Pope gave Kiara one last longing look and sighed deeply in defeat as he turned back around and slouched in his seat. There was no way he could ever tell Kie how he felt about her now, not when she was dating JJ. He meant what he’d told Kie — he was happy for them because they were his friends and they deserved happiness. But the selfish part of him deeply wished that it was him that made her that happy.

But no matter what he feels or _felt_ for Kie, Pope knew that he couldn’t reveal them. He would just have to continue to keep these feelings repressed and hope that his crush on Kie would go away soon.

**Author's Note:**

> usually i skim through the chapters to reread them after i write them but i tend to miss a lot of the grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. i’ll fix them eventually.


End file.
